Environmental groups go to court over pulp mill discharges into Altamaha River

An environmental group is going to court to force a pulp mill to clean up its discharges into a river in eastern Georgia.

But the mill says it's already taking steps to do just that.

Attorneys for Greenlaw say the discharges from the Rayonier pulp mill into the Altamaha River in Jesup smell bad and are very dark in color.

They say they'll sue the company in federal court if it does not clean up its effluent in 60 days.

"How much light going in and out of the river...can impact aquatic life. There's also chemicals associated with discharges that can cause problems," says Justine Thompson, the director of Greenlaw.

Thompson accuses the company of violating the federal Clean Water Act.

But Mike Bell, a spokesman at Rayonier, denies that.

"The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which is in charge of enforcing state and federal standards in water quality has found no such allegation," says Bell.

But the EPD does want Rayonier to reduce the color of the effluent.

So the company is implementing millions of dollars in technology to clean up the discharge within the next seven years, says Bell.

A spokeswoman for the Altamaha Riverkeeper, meanwhile, disagrees with the plan, saying it does not go far enough and will take too long to complete.

Builders still banking on SW Georgia power plant

LS Power, the company seeking to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia, says it will appeal a recent court ruling that halted construction.

Mike Vogt, project director with LS Power told the Dothan Eagle newspaper,

“We’re 100 percent committed to staying the course to begin construction.”

In a landmark ruling on June 30, the Fulton County Superior Court reversed an earlier administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit that had okayed the $1.2 billion project in Early County.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.

LS Power will appeal the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals in August.

Proponents say the project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.

A group of area residents and environmentalists fighting the project say the plant will emit unchecked amounts of carbon dioxide, harmful amounts of dust, and other pollutants.

The Longleaf Power Plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last two decades.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the issues at stake in the case.

Judge's ruling halts planned power station (Updated)

In a landmark ruling with national implications, The Fulton County Superior Court today reversed a previous administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit allowing the construction of a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia.

"We are in a moment of elation," said Justine Thompson a lawyer for Greenlaw, who represent a coalition of local residents and environmental groups that are fighting the plant's construction.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.

Wyatt said in her ruling regarding the plant's projected carbon dioxide emissions:

"Faced with the ruling in Massachusetts that CO2 is an “air pollutant” under the Act, Respondents are forced to argue that CO2 is still not a “pollutant subject to regulation under the Act.” Respondents’ position is untenable. Putting aside the argument that any substance that falls within the statutory definition of “air pollutant may be “subject to” regulation under the Act, there is no question that CO2 is “subject to regulation under the Act."

Howells, in an 108-page decision reached on January 11th, had ruled affirming the EPD decision to issue an air quality permit:

"...the weight of the evidence demonstrates that limits imposed by EPD are reasonable and supported by law.”

The Houston-based Dynegy Company wants to build the 1200-megawatt Longleaf power plant on the Chattahoochee River in Early County.

The opponents last year filed an appeal to stop the construction. The say the plant would emit unchecked levels of carbon dioxide, and unacceptable amounts of other pollutants.

Proponents say the 1.2-billion dollar project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.

The plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last 20-years.

Environmentalists said the decision marks the first time that a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source.

The court's April 2007 decision said the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are blamed for global warming.

"We will be taking this decision and making the same arguments to push for an end to conventional coal," said Bruce Nilles, who oversees the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

The plant's developers, LS Power and Dynegy Inc., said they planned to appeal.

"We are surprised with Judge Moore's ruling against us in every respect," said Mike Vogt, a spokesman for the energy plant. He also downplayed the ruling's impact on other pending lawsuits.

"I don't know what type of legal precedent a superior court judge in one state has over judges in other states," he said.

At a June 3 hearing, lawyers representing state regulators and plant developers said there was no federal standard yet to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and warned that a ruling to regulate the gas would "short-circuit" legislators' work to develop new rules.

The plant is expected to create more than 100 full-time jobs and give millions of dollars in tax revenues to Early County, where almost a quarter of the 12,000 residents live in poverty. It would power more than a half-million homes through utilities in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Each year it would emit as much as 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, worrying critics who say it could cause health problems in a county that already suffers above-average air pollution.

The decision will force state regulators to reconsider coal-fired power plants and could push state regulators toward cleaner and more efficient energy, said Patti Durand, director of the Sierra Club's Georgia chapter.

"It's a scandal that energy companies are still trying to build coal plants even though they cause global warming," she said. "I can't be more thrilled. It's a huge ruling. This is a new day in the United States, and I'm thrilled."

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the Longleaf power station.

(With The Associated Press)

Lawsuit filed vs. coal-fired plant

The first coal-fired power plant to be built in Georgia in two decades faces a lawsuit. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the Sierra Club, GreenLaw, and Friends of the Chattahoochee are teaming up in the suit. They claim mercury emissions from the Longleaf Energy Station would be built near Columbus would violate the Clean Air Act.

Plans for new coal-fired plant draw protest

A new coal-fired power plant could soon be on the horizon in middle-Georgia. A consortium of 10 electric cooperatives says it plans to build a state-of-the-art coal-fired plant near Sandersville, in Washington County. The group says state population growth is outpacing its ability to provide power. A spokesman for the group says coal is an affordable and reliable energy source, and that construction of the plant will boost the local economy.

The plan for a coal-fired plant is unwelcome news for one state environmental group. Justine Thompson, Executive Director of GreenLaw, says the consortium’s 700,000 customers actually stand to lose by the deal: “Coal-fired power plants may be cheap and profitable for the companies that use them; but they are not cheap and profitable for the people who have to breathe the air.” She says coal is one of the dirtiest energy forms and severely impacts the state’s air and water quality. Her group plans to evaluate the proposal for the plant before considering legal options.

Power company officials hope to have the plant completed by 2013. Last week, a state judge approved the permit for a coal-burning power plant in Early County – it will be the state’s first in 20 years. Thompson and other environmental groups plan to appeal.

Judge Approves Coal-Fired Power Plant

Click on the image to read a larger version of the conclusion page of Howells' decision. The full ruling is here. (.pdf download).

Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Howells, in an 108-page decision, has ruled affirming the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (EPD) decision to issue an air quality permit to Longleaf Energy Station, in a statement released Friday morning.

Howells noted in her conclusion:

"...the weight of the evidence demonstrates that limits imposed by EPD are reasonable and supported by law.”

The 1200 - megawatt facility, to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Early Co., would be the first coal-fired plant to be built in Georgia in the last 20-years.

GreenLaw, who is representing Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club, filed suit in June of 2007 challenging the permit for the 1200 megawatt power plant. The lawsuit charged that the builders, Houston-based Dynegy Corporation, failed to include limitations for carbon dioxide and sulphur emissions. Justine Thompson, GreenLaw's Executive Director:

“We are very disappointed by the court’s ruling and we will certainly file an appeal.”

“This is the first coal-fired power permit to be approved in Georgia in over 20 years but with this court’s ruling, I fear it will not be the last. As neighboring states stand up against coal plants, Georgia’s acquiescence will make us a target for new coal-fired power plant proposals. Building this plant as currently designed will lock this state into dirty air for the life of the plant, at least 50 or more years.”

Greenlaw attorneys say they will appeal to the state Superior Court by February.

Speaking in a conference call set up by opponents in the wake of the decision, Bobby Mclendon, president of Friends of the Chattahoochee expressed his disappointment:

"I've got a medical doctor on our board of directors down hear, and he told me – I said, Sammy, what is the worst pollutant that will be emitted by this plant? – this was five years ago – and he said, 'particulate matter, Bobby' he said, 'it'll increase asthmatic attacks and asthma and things,' and he said, 'we just don't need any of it,' so knowing all this about the fallout from it, I was just extremely disappointed in the decision."

But in a separate interview, Billy Fleming, publisher of the Early County News and a long-time proponent of the plant, said he was unsurprised by Howells decision:

"Of course, we're excited as a community about the decision, and it's actually the decision we were anticipating all along. Dave, I've spent five years studying every aspect of coal-fired power-plants, global warming, particulate matter, mercury and everything, and any of us who have paid attention are very comfortable with the permits of this power plant."

Click here for more GPB News coverage and features on the issues at stake at the Longleaf Power Station.

Closing arguments in coal plant permit case

The state heard closing arguments today, on whether to allow a Houston, Texas company to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia. Environmentalists say if the plant is built, annual pollution levels will equal the exhaust from one and a half million new cars each year. The testimony before the Office of State Administrative Hearings capped a nearly month long trial. At issue is whether to allow Dynegy of Houston to build a 1,200 megawatt coal fired power plant in Early County.

Justine Thompson is Executive Director of Greenlaw, one of the groups protesting construction of the coal-powered facility. She accuses the state Environmental Protection Division of ignoring the concerns of Georgians throughout the permit and hearing process.

“The EPD, while it’s middle name is “protection,” it considers its client to be the industry that’s requesting a permit, instead of the general public. They basically just adopted the coal company’s position and didn’t adequately review the permit.”

Dynegy presently operates thirty two energy facilities around the country, including the Heard County Power Plant in Franklin, Georgia. Neither attorneys for the EPD nor Dynegy were available for comment.

Judge's ruling limits Early Co. power-plant opponents

Bulletin board in City Hall at Early Co. seat, Blakely, with flyer
expressing support for power-plant builders, LS Power.
(Photo: Dave Bender)

Southwest Georgia groups fighting a power-plant in Early County saw their legal appeal partially stymied in an Atlanta courtroom on Friday.

The judge okayed the plaintiffs' lawsuit against the Longleaf coal-fired power station, but rejected two of their key contentions:

• That the State Environmental Division imposed no limits on carbon dioxide emissions
  
• That EPA's existing regulations on dust emissions aren't strict enough, and would endanger area residents.

Michael Vogt, director of project development at LS Power, says the judge was right to reject those charges:

"We're complying with the current regulations related to carbon dioxide. Whether they're going to have standards that we're going to have to meet in the future; we'll meet them whenever they come into effect, but currently, there are none for a facility such as ours.

"We're complying with all of the rules and regulations that are in place to do exactly what they're concerned about: to protect their health and the environment that's around them."

Hearings on the 17-counts against the project will continue next month. Vogt expects a decision on the issues in mid-November.

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Early Co. power-plant opponents make their case

Blakely City Hall in town square,
county seat of Early Co.
(Photo: Dave Bender)

Environmental groups opposing construction of a power plant in southwest Georgia had their day in an Atlanta court today.

The coalition, which filed an appeal in June, includes a group of Early County residents opposed to a new coal-fired power plant there.

Justine Thompson, executive director of Greenlaw, says the plant will make grandchildren of local residents with property nearby suffer:

"Their grandchildren, that go to this property regularly, have respiratory illnesses, so they're very afraid of how the plant is going to impact the health of these children, and whether or not they're going to have to keep them indoors."

Supporters say the two-billion dollar plant is safe, and will bring tax revenue and hundreds of jobs to the area.

The Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings in Atlanta will hear more arguments against the facility tomorrow.

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